THE GHAN

Ghan is a diminutive of the word "Afghan" in homage to the camel-drivers from Afghanistan and the British Raj, mainly Pashtuns, who took part in the construction of the transcontinental train, the Ghan, across the western Simpson Desert. The first Ghan, the Old Ghan, planned to link Adelaide to Darwin, was started in 1877 and not completed until 1929. Hundreds of men, 1,200 camels imported from Afghanistan, horses and mules were enlisted to lay the 1,300 km of track from Port Augusta to Alice Springs. Fifty years were needed to reach the halfway point at Alice Springs. But the line itself was a mistake. At the time, no one had ever seen water in the dry creek north of Marree. In fact, the line was built across a plain bordering watersheds to the west and Channel Country. These short floods inevitably damaged the rails. But this was not the only complication. The first rails, which were too wide, were extended in 1884 from Marree to Oodnadatta with narrower rails, forcing passengers and goods to change locomotives and carriages. Then, from Oodnadatta, to Alice Springs with a camel team. The line was finally extended to Alice Springs in 1929. Travelling with the Ghan was an adventure, as the train didn't run very well: delays, breakdowns.... On one occasion, it arrived ten days late in Alice Springs. The last passenger train ran in 1956, but the Old Ghan continued to carry freight and goods. In the early 1970s, a new route was established to Alice Springs from the Indian Pacific line much further west, at Tarcoola. The new Ghan line was inaugurated in 1980, and the old Ghan made its last trip in December of the same year. The line, extended to Darwin in 2004, is the longest in the world linking the north and south of the same continent. East of Coober Pedy, the Old Ghan Railway is still used by coal mine trains between Marree and Port Augusta, and by the Pitchi Richi tourist train between Quorn and Port Augusta. The track between Marree and Alice Springs has been completely abandoned.

The train stops alternately at Marla and Coober Pedy. For the latter, the train stops at Manguri, 47 km west of Coober Pedy. Shuttles run between Manguri and Coober Pedy.